Thomas Pownall served as a royal governor of several American colonies from 1755 to 1759. He resided in the colonies for several years during the French and Indian War (1754–63; part of a larger conflict known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War) and watched tensions grow between Great Britain and the American colonists. In 1760 Pownall arrived back in England. Upon his return to England, Pownall began working on the publication of his pamphlet The Administration of the Colonies. He published the pamphlet first in 1764 and then revised and republished the work several times between 1765 and 1777.